You’ve got to know this BEFORE filing for divorce!

As an Illinois divorce lawyer, I get calls from people who want to start a divorce, people in the middle of a divorce, and people who cannot wait for their divorce to end. They want to call me and get some answers that could solve their problems.

It’s impossible for even the best divorce lawyer to solve all of someone’s problems in a phone call.

So what I’ve done is put together some of the most important things you need to know about getting divorced in Illinois.

Plans can be great, but reflexes better

I love it when a plan comes together. Getting a divorce in Illinois, cases are often unpredictable. That means that even though clients like to sit down and feel like they are planning their way to success, plans have a way of changing.

Therefore, having great reflexes can be useful in divorce. Since you cannot control what the other person does, you and your divorce lawyer have to be able to react to both the predictable, and the unpredictable.

Crazy people don’t think rationally

Only a very small percentage of divorce cases go all the way to trial. Most of them settle before trial. In fact, most decent lawyers will exert significant effort trying to help clients to a reasonable settlement.

But sometimes, trying to come to a settlement can be very frustrating. Often, my client will think the other person is crazy. Maybe not clinically insane, crazy. But crazy.

When I started practicing law I was surprised the percentage of sociopathic and narcissistic people out there. What you should know is that the sooner you realize that logic may not work, the sooner you will be able to efficiently allocate resources for your case.

That being said, sometimes the other side’s lawyer can actually be helping in talking some sense into someone who doesn’t want to hear it.

Fighting will be expensive

Even if you found the most affordable divorce lawyer in Illinois, fighting about a divorce would still be expensive. Many people vastly underestimate the amount of work, and the number of trips to court it takes 2 litigate a divorce. For example, people usually have little idea how much work goes into the process of discovery, that’s evidence Gathering. And there are always a bunch of trips to court that people think are not necessary. Unfortunately, there are certain steps that must be taken in the process of a divorce in Illinois, and they can be very time-consuming and expensive.

This is one reason why your lawyer needs to be a very strategic thinker to help you make the most of your time and money.

The judge doesn’t care about your feelings

Sometimes people are severely wrong in the course of the marriage. Maybe your spouse cheated on you, or perhaps the relationship was abusive in some manner. As a divorce lawyer, I can definitely understand why that would bother you. Those are both good reasons to get divorced. But you should know that the judge does not care at all about your feelings being hurt, people breaking vows and a bunch of that other stuff.

Divorces are about financial issues and what’s in the best interest of kids. So if you’re talking to your divorce lawyer about something other than those two topics, you are wasting time. Because the court does not care to hear about how someone’s feelings were hurt comma that means there’s no use to talking to a lawyer about it.

Sure, I understand that sometimes people need to get things off your chest. Divorce can be very frustrating. But if you are repeatedly talking to your lawyer about the justice you deserve because of how you’ve been wronged, you’re probably neglecting other very important matters in your case. And further, you will increase your attorney’s fees without getting anything for it.